One aspect of Marathon which attacts me would be
"Meeting new friends"
Ever since I started marathon on August 2009, I met many people and I`m fully glad to meet wonderful fellows so far.
Among them, let me introduce Yoko Koyama whom I was impressed most deeply.
On 24th, June, I had a special dinner with Yoko.
I really appreciate Yoko who definitely transformed my sense of value.
Actually, I met Yoko for the first time on 4th December 2011 during a year-end party which was organized by Amino Value Running Club.
I`ll explain Amino at another time.
Yoko invented another running organization, "Kazeyuru", a charity relay marathon activity for the Japan 3.11 Earthquake. To be honest, I do not know the formal name of this running activity(Sorry, but I cannot chuckle).
As for Kazeyuru, we, runners gather on the running spot around Osaka castle and share distance of 42 km. This means that we take part in a relay until the total amount of distance reaches the distance between Osaka and Tohoku.
More than 100 runners take part in the charity event every month and they are willing to pay 6 dollar fees for participation, which are donated to the RedCross.
To my surprise, several sports equipment companies sponsor her activity.
Therefore, Sometimes they provide drinks or whatever for us.
In fact, Yoko was born in Kobe where the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck in 1995.
While she was thankful for volunteers all over Japan then, she noticed that this shoking memory was buried in oblivion, with increasing speed.
Therefore, she strongly felt the necessity of keeping hearty support and developing bonds with those suffering from this devastating disaster.
That`s why she established an organization which focused on charity relay marathon.
I`ve always been impressed by Yoko because she is a kind of person who supports others rather than herself. She definitely devote herself to assisting others as well as pleasing her friends.
She attracts quite a few people who are willing to invite their friends to join this activity, thus sparking off a chain reaction.
Yoko is like a shining sunflower that attracts a wide range of beautiful butterflies.
Thus, her club keeps creating pleasant atmosphere all the time.
I ran Nara marathon on December, just a week after I met with Yoko.
Many members of Amino as well as Kazeyuru took part in this marathon, so she came to Nara to cheer us up.
As for me, I was cheered up in a final 3km stage, and was able to restore energy. Actually, I was glad to receive many cheers and it was the first time that I was moved to tears during Marathon.
So far, I felt one of attractive elements of Marathon festival is being encouraged by local people and being cheered up by them during running. Yet, it turned out that a cheering from friends was worth tenfold that of others.
Later, I was motivated to participate in a marathon festival as a supporter on Osaka Half Marathon.
As a backer, I should have kept working as hard as possible to cheer runners up. However, at first, I was embarrassed, so I tried to imitate what Yoko did.
Contrary to my expectation, this supporting activity along the street was an enjoyable experience for the following two reasons.
Firstly, more runners than expected respond us.
5000 runners took part in the Marathon event and more than 20% of them answered us by saying "Thank you!" or " I`ll try harder".
I`ve never been thanked by 1000 people in an hour.
Secondly, supporters are moved by runners quite a few times.
Osaka Half Marathon strictly forces runners to keep their paces in order to finish races before determined deadline.
I was fully moved when I saw famous top-runners and my friends coming, but the most moving moment was when a young lady in my age tried hard enough to come in deadline and tried to keep her pace even though she was suffering from her muscle spasms.
I enjoyed a precious time of being given too many thanks.
Now, I am at Kansai International Airport.
I received an e-mail from Yoko, which contais precious messages;
・Hard work encourages me to grow more productively
・Let my frankness remain the same as my strength
・Meeting new precious friends happens at the right time. The priority are closer relationships rather than longer ones.
・I wish you having a great time in Philadelphia and come back to Japan with trustful relationships with my classmates.
The important lesson from her is
" Marathon is a kind of team-play, all for one, and one for all."
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